movies

I'm sure no one will blame me for falling so far behind in my movie write ups. I'm going to blow through these pretty quickly to get caught up.

February 6 movie: The Abominable Dr. Phibes. It was kind of depressing to see Joseph Cotten and Vincent Price, both tremendous actors, in a piece of junk like this. They both give it their all and I appreciate that they never behave like they're too good for the material. But really, this movie is sad. Price especially looks like utter hell. With the Bible-themed serial murders, this could have been an inspiration for Se7en. And trashy as it was, I'm a thousand times happier watching The Abominable Dr. Phibes.

February 6 movie: Finding Nemo. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this sweet, funny movie. And I'm probably the last person in the world to see it, so I don't have much else to say.

February 6 movie: Intermezzo: A Love Story. Young piano player Ingrid Bergman falls in love with musical genius Leslie Howard, they run away together, and eventually she gives him up so he can go back to his family. Yawn. I only watched this because it was Bergman's first movie in English.

February 9 movie: Fight, Zatoichi, Fight! Zatoichi feels responsible for a young mother's death (she's accidently killed by bad guys who were gunning for him) so he offers to take her infant child to its father. The kid is pleasantly quiet, and therefore better for Zatoichi to play off than the annoying boy in Zatoichi Challenged. I struggled to remember anything about this movie, but I don't think it was the movie's fault.

February 10 movie: Gaslight. Charles Boyer slowly convinces his wife Ingrid Bergman that she is insane, while detective Joseph Cotten tries to help her. This is an excellent movie but I found it a bit difficult to watch Boyer mentally torturing Bergman.

February 11 movie: Guru. I thought this was going to be really funny, but actually it was juvenile and sex-obsessed, and also not that funny. It's about an Indian guy who comes to the US to get rich, befriends a porn star and asks her to teach him how to be a porn actor. She complies by telling him all kinds of goofy sex-related new age mumbo jumbo, which he turns around and repeats to Park Avenue types as "the guru of sex," at a tidy profit. Plus she's getting married to a fireman she doesn't really love, but it's okay because he's secretly gay. Which the family priest knows and is totally fine with. The priest has also seen the porn star's work. There were a couple of Bollywood numbers, but that alone couldn't save this movie.

February 15 movie: Lover Come Back. The second Rock Hudson / Doris Day movie has them as rival advertising people, but the basic premise (Hudson lying to Day about his identity while she throws herself at him) is the same. Robert Osborne called this funnier than Pillow Talk, and it may have been, but I found the deception more off-putting. Because Hudson wasn't just degrading Day, he was also destroying her career. What does that say about me, that I find the professional betrayal more offensive than the personal? Tony Randall is in both, playing basically the same character, but Pillow Talk has one unassailable advantage: Thelma Ritter in amazing performance as Day's wise-cracking maid. Lover Come Back has Ann B. Davis instead, which is no contest.

February 15 movie: Cowboy Bebop. This was pretty good. I think it would have made more sense if I had ever seen the series. The music was a disappointment, after having heard so much about the fabulous Cowboy Bebop soundtrack. Maybe the Japanese release had better music; we saw it on IFC, dubbed.

February 16 movie: Finding Nemo. Came home from Stoneline while Georg was watching this and caught the second half with him. Still sweet, still funny, I still don't have anything to say about it.

February 16 movie: The Time Machine. I love this movie. The 60s version with Rod Taylor, not the horrible remake with Guy Pierce. The thoughtful tone is so well suited to sf. I wish more movies would take that approach rather than being stupid overblown explodo-fests.

February 19 movie: The Hulk. Speaking of stupid overblown explodo-fests! Oh lordie this movie was lame. Lame! I'm not familiar with the original Hulk backstory, so I don't know how much they messed with it. But I have to ask one thing: why the heck does the Hulk jump like that? Did he do it in the comic? Even if he did, they should have dropped because it made him look ridiculous. We called him the Hippity Hoppity Hulk.

February 19 movie: Hollywood Canteen. This silly but very fun movie suggests that a GI (Robert Hutton, a Jimmy Stewart lookalike) could go to the Hollywood Canteen and in the space of a week win the love of a B movie star (Joan Leslie). The Canteen was a real place, a nightclub for WWII military men to socialize with movie stars. According to the movie it was Bette Davis' brainchild, although the movie also made it seem as though major celebrities did everything from serving sandwiches to washing dishes, so I'm not entirely sure about its accuracy. Anyway this was hardly great art, but it was fun to see all the stars. Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet have a nice little scene, intimidating a guy who danced too roughly with one of the Andrews Sisters. And Alan Hale is in it! He stands at the door and welcomes the millionth visitor to the canteen (Our Hero, of course).